RCL wheelchair cruise pics, information and opinions needed

[rascalrider]

Jean,

 

I was in Ensenada a few days ago and found a shuttle with a lift at the pier. Here is the name and data for the owners for advance contact info. They own two shuttles.

Gabriella

mail: lota_gaby@hotmail.com

cell: (01) 646 128 7206 (from USA)

cell: (044) 646 128 7206 (from Ensenada)

 

I am in Hilo, Hawaii today and found a lift bus on the pier. It is was County Hele-On Bus (a white bus with green stripe). Ask the information ladies on duty and they will point it out. It gave me a nice 2-hour tour for $1.00. It stopped at the Island Candy Factory (and coffee), The Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Farm and Store (recently purchased by Hershey's), Richardson's Beach with a running narrative of the flora and fauna of the area. They offered options of stopping at the zoo and botanical gardens. It was raining so the whole bus declined. Thought that you could add this info to your compilation.

 

Rascal Rider Ruth

[JSR]

Ruth -Thank you for the information and updates. I hope you are having a great trip. I look forward to hearing all about it when you return.

 

Splinter-I will email you.

 

Benita-DO you have any pictures you are willing to share with me. Either print or digital?

 

Thanks everyone...the site is coming along..a little slower then I would like but I am getting there.

 

Jean

[JSR]

Splinter- I went into your profile and I could not send an email. What did I do wrong....? You can email me at Rtravel@aol.com.

Thanks

Jean

[Benita]

Sorry Jean, We did not bring a camera. There is enough room to store a scooter if you move aside the coffee table.

[Benita]

Jean, somebody on the RCCL Board posted great pictures of the handicapped cabin on the Radiance Class ship - same as the cabin we had on a Jewel. I'll email you the link - it is on The RCCL board with the thread being handicapped cabin on the NOS.

[Cruz42NJ]

I was on the 9/19/04 Voyager of the Seas trip to Canada with my wife and Mother–in-Law. Mom in Law uses a wheelchair so we were in a wheelchair accessible room and I took pictures. It was room #9557.

 

The pictures are on ofoto. I don't think you need a password or be a member to view them. Here's a link:

 

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=2rfsdi...gf&x=0&y=63apsp

 

Hope it helps!

 

-Cruz42NJ

[JSR]

Cruz42NJ- Thank you so much.

 

Everyone-Do to my fathers failing health I had to cancel our cruise for this Saturday.

If I do not respond to emails for the next couple of weeks. please except my apologies and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

 

Jean

[FL Jim]

Jean,

 

Sorry to hear your father is not doing well. I hope he is getting better. We are going on the same cruise as you but leaving Feb. 4. I'll be glad to answer any questions once we get back. We have been on three previous cruises: Celebrity Zenith, western; Carnival Sensation, eastern; and Celebrity Horizon, southern. I am a quadriplegic and use a power chair. We were late booking this cruise and there were no accessible rooms available. We booked two Family Oceanview rooms on Deck 8 (there are five adults and three children going). Due to my needs, I'm sure these rooms will work well for us. If there are any particular questions you have that I can look into while aboard, let me know.

 

Jim

[Sanford]

I like to take both scooter and WC. Some scooters can be placed onto the back end in an upright position. This can make it possible to get the scooter through the door. It also takes up less room in the cabin. I think that some batteries can not be placed onto their side, so check that out. Also, some scooters do not have the bracing to stand upright. My husband has driven my scooter to the purser desk each evening for storage and charging.

 

We traveled on Carnival Pride in May. I parked my scooter in the elevator area. I forgot to take the key. Someone moved my scooter right in front of the elevator door. We don't usually cruise Carnival. Has anyone else had a similiar experience?

[Sarahsmom85]

OP.........this is a great idea, and just in time for me to benefit from. I have booked a cruised Jan 2006. On RCI Mariner of the Sea. I have heard that is being on on the newest ships is accessible. Somethings I'd like to know and that would be good to have on your site is.

What is priority boarding? How do you go about getting it? What time is can you start boarding?

How many electric plugs are in the room? Last (our only other cruise) there was only one plug in the room and we need one for air mattress and one to recharge w/c. We needed the porter to bring us an extenion cord. Giving me one more thing to trip over.

Are the handicap bathrooms on board Unisex or as some places call Family bathrooms? Nothing less surprising then to see a guy in a w/c come out of the lady's room. LOL.....

Of course we are looking for port infomation. Also information on how the airport transfers work. I believe they have w/c lifts.

We have a year to plan and that is half the fun.

Looking forward to visiting your web page when it is up and running.

If you need info or photos on a Costa cruise I have that.

Linda

[JSR]

Thanks everyone for the continued information.

With great sadness I have to let you know that my Dad passed away this December.

I am hoping to get back to work onthe web site next week but am a bit delayed due to the situation.

 

I hope all of you are having great crusies. Fl Jim I look forward to hearing all about your cruise. I have some concerns about all the sea days so if you can let me know what you did I would love it. I have an E1, I really want a JS but both are booked. I can not manage without the accessible room, I will be interested to know how you fared in the cabin you have.

 

Thanks again

Jean

[Queenie2]

Jean:

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your father. My sympathies to you. My mom passed away last year, so I can just tell you to remember to take of yourself too. Feel free to e-mail me at candy@EmergingHorizons.com if you want to talk.

 

Take care,

 

candy

[DesrtDrmr]

Dear Jean,

I have been a lurker on this thread, and am also sorry to hear about your Dad. I hope that your happy memories will soon outweigh the sad ones.

Laine

[rascalrider]

Jean,

 

I am so sorry about your dad's passing. Keep your fond meories of him forever in your heart.

 

I recently returned from a cruise on The Sapphire Princess. My HC cabin was huge. It had three separate areas...dressing, sitting and sleeping all in an open floor plan, plus a large bathroom. We had two twins, a sofa, two TVs, bar sink and refrigerator. Lots of room for my scooter. Lots of shelves, very few drawers.

 

Accessible transportation found:

San Pedro, CA United Checker Cab had a ramp van for one wheelchair

1-888-275-4822

Cost $5 to go from Los Angeles Sheraton Harbor Hotel

to the World Cruise Terminal

 

Sydney, AU Silver Service had a ramp van for one wheelchair

http://www.silverservice.com.au 9020-9977 in Australia

Cost approx $35AU from Westin Hotel to airport

 

Jean, we had a lot of sea days...I personally love them. There are lots of activities planned by the cruise staff...movies, games, trivia, bridge, scrabble, pool games, demonstrations, lectures, dance classes, fitness classes, casino, shopping, reading, visiting... you can pick and choose what to do or do nothing. There is no reason to worry about being bored! Where are you going on your cruise?

 

Fred, how wide is your wheelchair? Most standard cabin doors are 23" wide. I am assuming that if you are a quad that you will need to keep your chair in your cabin and with four people in your cabin, I am a bit concerned about there being much room for a chair to maneuver if you did get it through the door. You might check with the special needs desk and ask them to check that HC cabins are assigned only to HC persons...sometimes they are not.

Good luck.

 

Rascal Rider Ruth

[JSR]

HI Everyone!!

 

Ruth-Thanks for the information. What cabin number and what category was the cabin?

 

I have to let everyone know that I had a computer disaster. I was able to recover all my data except my saved emails. If you have been kind enough to send me emails and you still have copies I would appreciate you resending them. I have new way to store them so this can not happen again. I really appreciate eveyone's help with this.

 

The good thing is that things can only get better.

 

Jean

[glennjudy1]

Hi, I'm new to cruising and these boards. We just took our first cruise on the Disney Magic and it was wonderful. My wife is a parapelegic and we were worried about the accessibility on the ship. However, we had a HC cabin and the cabin and the entire ship were very accessible. I would be happy to answer any questions about the ship.

 

We have our second cruise booked for the Sapphire Princess in September of this year. Any information on accessible tours or excursions would be greatly appreciated, as well as any tips onboard. We have booked a BA catagory HC cabin (C303). Thanks.

[JSR]

glenjudy1-Which ports are you going to?

[glennjudy1]

It's a repositioning cruise, leaving Vancouver on Sept 26 and arriving in Los Angeles on October 1st. The ship stops at Victoria, San Fransisco, and Santa Barbara.

[FL Jim]

Just a reminder. There are a limited number of handicapped-accessible cabins on cruise ships. The newer ships tend to have a higher percentage of HA cabins, but there are still relatively few available. I am leaving on my fourth cruise next Friday, Feb. 4. We were late deciding on this cruise and so were not able to get a HA cabin. I am a quadriplegic and cannot move my legs, much less walk a couple of steps. My concern is that the HA cabins that are available are being viewed as being an upgrade for people who occassionally use a scooter or manual wheelchair because they get extra square footage.

 

Fortunately, my power wheelchair is very narrow (22 inches) and I have a great family to help me get around any obstacles. I am pretty confident that I will be able to make a large Family Oceanview stateroom (319 sq. ft.) work for me. The big question is the shower. RCI is providing a shower bench so I've got my fingers crossed (figuratively). If not, we never would have been able to take this Panama Canal trip on RCI's Brilliance OTS.

 

My point is, please don't view an ingrown toenail as an excuse to "upgrade" to a HA cabin. Much like the handicapped parking permits that doctors seem to give to anyone who requests them. I know nobody on this thread has done that but those of us that need them really do need them. Let the flames begin!

 

Jim

[JSR]

glennjudy-I have been to San Fransico several times but never on a cruise, everyting is pretty accessible. Beware some of the streets are so steep you need to go down them backwards.

 

FLJim-Have a great trip. I am on the same ship and itin on 3/18. I look forward to your report when you return. Have you checked back about accessible cabins. I had to cancel my last cruise 3 days prior to leaving and I did so with the accessibility desk so you never know something may open up. By the way your power chair is narrower then my hips these days. I am a T5 para.

Jean

[rascalrider]

Jean, sorry to have taken so long to reply. In answer to your question, I had HC cabin E714, category J, on Sapphire Princess. I have pictures except for bathroom which I accidentally deleted!

Ruth

[Jen_MN]

Hello,

 

I just got home from a 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Explorer and it was wonderful! I am in a power chair.

 

We booked through RC directly because it was $100 cheaper per person than with the agency we were originally talking to. If you are talking to an agency and they say there are no HC rooms available, call RC and check with them. For some of the cruises we were looking at, the agency said there were no HC rooms left but in calling RC we found out there were some left.

 

Our departing port was Miami and RC arranged a medivan to pick us up at the airport and bring us to the pier. It was $22 per person. The RC people were right there in baggage claim waiting for us when we arrived.

 

Getting on the ship was very easy!

 

We had an inside HC room, #9553. It had a roll-in shower, two double beds and a fold-out couch. It was fairly roomy with the couch folden in, but we had them remove a large chair to make extra room for maneuvering. There are no outlets by the bed and do not have extension cords available onboard, so if you have breathing machines etc that you need by your bed, bring your own extension cord.

 

We rented a shower chair (not bench) from Randal Medical in Miami. It was in our room when we arrived. It worked well for showering, but it would not fit all the way over the toilet for bathrooming like we were told it would.

 

The two main pools had the lifts, but the water was too cold for me and those pools were usually full of kids. There is another pool in the Solarium that does not have a lift, but has steps going all the way into the pool that you could be carried down and/or sit on. There were no lifts for the hot tubs, but I just had my PCA carry me in.

 

The Windjammer where the daily buffets are is a little crowded, but the greeter always took it upon herself to find a table I could easily get to. They were also very willing to help me through the buffet line. Johnny Rockets is all booths where a wheelchair cannot pull close to, unless you can take your footrests off. The main dining rooms were pretty easy to get through. Our waiter was always willing to cut my food for me. Our assistant waited knew I needed a long straw so he'd always ask if I wanted him to put two together for me (I usually had my own with). They always had a chair pulled out for me before I arrived, in a spot where I could see the rest of the dining room without turning around so I could watch their post-dinner staff dances.

 

Our ports were San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Nassau Bahamas.

 

We did not do anything in San Juan. The only wheelchair accessible transportation was $75 an hour and we weren't going to pay that. If our ship came in at another pier, we could have at least walked around a little bit, but it came in at one where there were no sidewalks.

 

In St. Maarten we could not find any wheelchair accessible transportation, but I did have a manual chair with (it's really not comfortable) so my PCA carried me onto a bus and held me, and they put my manual chair in a compartment, so I was at least able to get to Waikiki Beach where I rested in a lounge chair.

 

St. Thomas was really quite nice. They have an accessible trolley ride, with a lift for wheelchairs. It can only hold one or two wheelchairs though. I think it was called the Scenic Island Tour, run by Accessible Adventures. The handicapped parking fine there is $1,000 compared to our $200 and is strictly enforced! I only encountered one place without a curb cut and it was on the tour, but the trolley driver had a ramp with to use.

 

In Nassau we did the close dolphin encounter. The person at the RC special needs office said that there was a special dolphin program for people with disabilities, where the workers were trained to lift and help people with disabilities, a special chair to sit in and the dolphins were specially trained to interact with people with disabilities. I had to use my manual chair again because the ferry boat could not handle a power chair and the workers carefully carried me and my manual chair down into the boat. When we arrived they carefully carried me and my manual chair out of the boat and pushed me around. For the actual dolphin encounter there really wasn't a special program for people with disabilities. They just let me go last so I could have one-on-one time with the dolphin. I needed to wear a wet suit because the water is cold, which was a challenge, but they were very helpful and brought me a towel from the gift shop (I got to keep it for free) to lay on to get the suit on. My PCA carried me in the water and then they brought her a plastic patio chair to sit in and hold me. They had the dolphin give me lots of kisses! It also put its head on my shoulders because I could not put my arms around it for a hug. It was a good time!

 

Nassau itself I didn't really like. The stores near the pier had pretty big steps going in. The straw market was very crowded and cluttered. Everywhere you went, people were very pushy.

 

Getting off the ship to go home was kind of a mess. We were told we had to be one of the first ones off the ship and someone would meet us in a lounge to help, so we were there at 7:30 am and no one was there to help. We decided to just leave on our own, thinking our ride would be there waiting, but our ride did not show up until 9 am.

 

But all-in-all, we had a wonderful time! The cruise staff could not have been more helpful or friendly!

 

I would like to see more accessible transportation and accessible tour information. If some islands do not have wheelchair accessible transportation, I think they could easily make some vans and buses accessible.

[TrinaP1204]

I agree with the previous poster about getting off the ship early. We booked an afternoon flight as recommended by the cruiseline and our travel agent. We got to our gathering place at 7:30 (without breakfast) as we were asked to do. Likewise, we encountered chaos. We were on time, but no one from Royal Caribbean was in the lounge area to take us for at least 30 minutes. Once the man got there, he was like "Ok now what do we need to do?" I was thinking, I though that was what you were here for, to tell us what we need to do next to get off the ship. Anyway, we got off the ship, only to have to sit and wait out by the parking area for a ride. None were there yet even though we had already waited 30 minutes for the Royal Caribbean guy to assist us out there. After all this, we were still waiting several hours for our flight once we got to the airport.

I realized this might be an issue the night before, and called Guest Relations. They said "No, that is the rule, if you are in a wheelchair, you must leave early." I asked what difference it would make if we just waited and they acted like it would hold up the entire 2000+ passengers if one more famly was in line at the wrong time. I think they need to wake up on this issue. That is crazy making people sit for hours when supposedly we are getting "priority" treatment. And they should also provide coffee and maybe danishes or something at least for us to eat while we wait on them to get their act together.

I was on the Explorer also, with the exact same room. My suggestion is this. If you want to save money on the trip, get an inside cheaper room because if you are like we were, we only slept there. We were too busy out having fun. Some like the balconies, etc. But too me, after a day or so, you have seen plenty of water! Just my opinion.

 

Trina

[JSR]

Jen-NM All and all sounds like a great trip. Can you tell me the name of the company that provided the dolphin experience. Did you book through the ship or independently.

 

Trina-we always leave when we want to. We like to have breakfast and then wonder off at our leisure. We tend to send our luggage early though so that it is waiting for us.

 

Jean

[TrinaP1204]

They told us we had to leave at 7:30, no choice.